Unforced Error – Power Alley Grill

NOTE: This restaurant is closed.

Ron Says……

Talk about a waste ~ 20 minutes +/- at this so called fine establishment.

I was really looking forward to one of their many burgers (even if they are overly priced but that didn’t matter as I think I had Susan paying), and of course a fish craving of one of the other WeeMees – Susan.

Well the menu is totally revamped… downsizing , outsourcing, whatever it was pretty bare boned with one side totally devoted to breakfast – AT A SPORTS BAR…

Nevertheless…..One burger is now on the platter – Ok, yeah they have a Turkey Burger – but does that really count?? may as well be a tofu burger. (now’s a good time to point out that the Chicken Fingers – think “Sam’s Club” – were more expensive than the freakin’ burger) I digress…

To be honest, I’ll keep this post short, because I will never know how good this one burger could be because we sat there and waited for someone to take our drinks for… oh what must have been like 15 min… Oh S**T!!! Just Make it an ETERNITY!!!

This is supposed to be lunch hour…. there’s a difference between Cocktail Hour and lunch Hour… One of the two – I DO NOT WANT TO END.

Oh well the manager was called out by Dan ~ he never showed…. he may have been out picketing some university trying to get a degree like Heather Bresch, as he may not have one. I say this because everything seemed disorganized… and in my opinion who shuts down a Sports Bar during football season for Dinner, Happy Hour, etc, and changes their hours to serving Lunch and Breakfast. Yeah, I want to go eat breakfast and watch Mike and Mike In The Morning…. WHOOPEEE…

It does appear they may be serving dinner now, at least I hope on Game Nights…

Well to make a short story that much longer, and much less interesting… I can only hope that this joint packed all of the thought, care, ingredients, and whatever else goes into making a burger into their lone “$7.25 Hamburger”, as I’ll never know, I didn’t get waited on, and Dan made the call to leave… I totally support that decision. (However I’m not ready to say “Dan For President” – considering who we have – maybe governor, but not president)

So I took Susan’s money and went to the Fresh Seafood place and ate a Big Burnt Fish Sandwich Combo.

It was overcooked and still good, and it only took one minute to get waited on.

This has been the best review I’ve ever written – It’s also the first… and I was really disappointed today… hopefully the beers will be cold on Game Day.

disclaimer – any bad grammer, misspelled words etc can be blamed on the West Virginia Dept. of Education.

Dan says…

I wish I could say something. My mother taught me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all. Well too bad mom why start listening to you now. When we walked in I said to the group of seven – “Get ready for the slowest lunch in Charleston.” I also noted their over-sized white board for specials. It was silly looking. They should shop for restaurant decor here and not office max or wally world.

It is a shame that Chef Wong sold this place. It is quickly getting run into the ground. The Power Alley Grill has never hit a home run for me and unfortunately they struck-out this time. Sorry “No Forks for You!”

Susan says…

Today’s lunch was one of the most painful lunch days in recent memory. I truly wondered if I would EVER get to eat something.

Part I

The whole reason I wanted to go to Power Alley Grill was to get the fish sandwich. I had been wanting a good fish sandwich ever since my great disappointment at the Tricky Fish. I am a lover of fish sandwiches and I think I have tried them all in the greater Kanawha Valley area. The one at Power Alley Grill is, or should I say was, great – it was a big piece of fried fish on a big toasted bun, everything crispy, just the way I like it. I get the anemic menu and what do you know….no fish sandwich. In fact, there weren’t many sandwiches to choose from at all.

At this point I feel I should explain why the quality of the sandwiches I eat are of utmost importance to me. Well, besides the simple fact that I am, by nature, a picky person. I have been on a low-carb diet since Thanksgiving. I know, I know, what a crappy time to go on a diet, right? Not really, since I don’t particularly enjoy the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. However, I have been on this diet for about 5 months and I am down to the lowest weight I have been since college. As a result, I have developed Carb-Phobia, a condition whereby the dieter is literally afraid to eat carbohydrates for fear of gaining any of the weight back. If I am going to eat some carbs, it better be damned worth it. Which is where the quality of the sandwich comes into play.

The Power Alley Grill fish sandwich is, or should I say was, a sandwich whose taste and crispiness made it worth the risk of seeing a bigger number on the scales the next day. In addition, the homemade potato chips were also worth overcoming my Carb-Phobia. Without the awesome fish sandwich on the menu, what was I going to eat? What else was worth spending a week’s worth of carbs?

Turns out I didn’t need to ponder the question further. We had been sitting there, waiting, on our lunch HOUR, for more than 10 minutes and no one came to take a drink order or even acknowledge our presence. When people at our table began suggesting we should go somewhere else where they will actually serve us some food, it was a no-brainer for me, because of the elimination of the fish sandwich.

Suggestions for Power Alley Grill: duh, like actually talk to the people seated in your restaurant holding menus and mysteriously absent of beverages. Also, we asked for the manager and he/she never showed. The menu truly sucks now. The interesting things (and the awesome fish sandwich) have been eliminated. Many people at my table loved the burger with the blue cheese….gone.

So we left the power Alley Grill, still hungry but now we were agitated…looking for another place to fill our hungry bellies, with only 30 minutes left of our lunch hour. See my review on the Fresh Seafood Company for Part II of today’s lunch saga.

(Update: 7/21/2008)

Tracey says…

<!–[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]–><!–[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]–><!–[if !mso]> <! st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } –> <!–[endif]–> <!–[endif]–>The one positive thing about Power Alley Grill that everyone seems to agree on is that it is convenient if you are in walking distance. In need of a place to walk to from General Hospital where we would not be hassled to give up our table (we wanted to have a long working lunch), a group of work friends and I headed to PAG. I was not really excited on spending my one lunch “off campus” in a month there, having read the reviews of The Five. BUT- who wants to be the one that can’t agree on a restaurant choice when everyone else can? Not me! Plus, when I’ve been before, I have kind of enjoyed the Veggie Wrap. Hearing that I was headed there, Dan said, “OH! See if they put the Fish sandwich back on the menu!”

So, we walked in and were seated. Nobody asked us if we wanted a booth or a table-because guess what- no more booths in there. Aside from that minor change, I found everything to be pitifully the same. We waited about 10 minutes for someone to wander by to see if we wanted, by chance, something to drink. We had plenty of time to look at the menu, and like the ever attentive wife I am, I forgot all about checking for the fish sandwich. I had time to think it was a shame that the place was so BLAH when they could have potential for lots of local flavor-I love that they have the Toastman sandwich on there, for example. Anyway, the server and her trainee were both friendly and did a nice job. But you can just tell nobody really cares about you there.

You know by now that I like to get the same old thing every time. Well, this time I branched out for a Friday splurge and ordered fries instead of the fruit cup with my (same old) veggie wrap. It’s loaded with lots of veggies and even has some hummus. I thought about Susan when my food arrived. I could find no other reason for the two bread and butter pickle chips beside my Mediterranean veggie wrap. No reason other than to make my tortilla soggy. It’s not like I was having a tuna melt or a club sandwich or something. And, my fries could have been so yummy if they had been lovingly prepared and proudly presented– instead of served ice cold.

But, I was there for the meeting and fellowship so I didn’t complain about it. Plus, I figured nobody cared anyway! One fork-the unsoggy part of my wrap was good. When I told Susan I’d been there and thought of her with the pickle chips, guess what she said, “Was the Fish Sandwich back on the menu?!?!”

If you want a good, big fish sandwich – check out The Leonards. They’re located on Shrewsbury, behind Sushi Atlantic (speaking of which, you need to get to – so it’s a bit slow but worth it). It’s takeout only but worth it.

As good a backdrop as the ballpark is, Power Alley Grill has been pathetic the two times I ate there. Susan must have had a different fish sandwich than I did. Mine was fried, yes, but was pre-fab school cafeteria quality. Recently went their again against my better judgment. The $12 burger and beer was tolerable – big, over-cooked (pre-cooked?) burger with lots of cheese – but that’s about all I can say. Stick with beer and french fries if you must go there. The fries were pretty good and the beer was cold.

this is the perfect scattershot venting of rage that comes after being confronted with the hubris of someone coasting on someone else’s reputation. you’re shaking with so much frustration, you don’t even know where to start.

if you’ll pardon the pun, they know they’re the only game in town at that location and that they don’t even have to try.

they’ve taken advantage of the amenities of a bar, tv and climate control to deliver the patron whatever they hell the feel like whenever they feel like delivering it.

the ownership of that park should be ashamed of what they’re passing off as a value-added convenience to a public whose tax dollars went into building that place.

Went by PAG before going to Live on the levee; Friday at 6pm at the start of the memorial day weekend, beautiful day – and they were CLOSED. It was decent a few years ago, but just keeps getting worse with every incarnation. Can’t even get into the restuarant on game day without a ticket. Now it’s cafeteria style with no table service, through they only refill drinks. The food is yet another blend of chemicals of mass production. It is time to cut the power on PAG.